Jobs Favors DRM-Free Music Distribution

Another anonymous reader tips an essay by Steve Jobs on the Apple site about DRM, iTunes, and the iPod. Perhaps it was prompted by the uncomfortable pressure the EU has been putting on Apple to open up the iPod. Jobs places the blame for the existence and continuing reliance on DRM squarely on the music companies. Quoting: "Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries. Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free. For Europeans, two and a half of the big four music companies are located right in their backyard. The largest, Universal, is 100% owned by Vivendi, a French company. EMI is a British company, and Sony BMG is 50% owned by Bertelsmann, a German company. Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly."

Comments

Re:At least Apple is consistent, I guess...

[Lars T.]

Oooh, maybe because "parvenu74" claimed in his submission title something that isn't in the article? Nah, nobody on Slashdot would do that, nor not actually RTFA himself. Well, maybe not bother to understand it...

You're right, parvenu74 did make an assertion in the submission title that does not actually appear in the article. And maybe parvenu74 didn't actually read the article or maybe s/he did and didn't understand it. I can not speak to that. But I did read the article and I believe I understood the article. One paragraph that stands out is;

Apple stands to benefit greatly by keeping the FairPlay DRM system up and running. The lock-in afforded by FairPlay creates an Apple ecosystem that essentially ties the iPod to iTunes and to Apple, at least for commercial transactions. Someone has even launched an antitrust suit against Apple over this, though the suit's specific claims are rather broad.

Now, maybe I'm missing something but that statement gives a very strong impression that, no, Apple would not sell DRM free music. A bit further down we get this little tidbit;

Yeah, you are missing that over 90% of the music on iPods don't come from the iTS. You wishing for something to be true based on a sentence in an article doesn't make it so. Hell, if Apple sold non-DRMed music, they could sell to people who have a non-iPod portable music player. Pretend THAT sentence stood in the article.

If Apple opens its DRM, that walled-garden experience could be degraded as customers migrate to other stores with lower prices but more technical problems. This creates a scenario in which we [Arstechnica] think Apple can work its influence to keep DRM alive and well in the face of labels showing doubts--and we're not at all sure that the labels' doubts are that strong. Oooh, if Arstechnica believes that Apple could force the labels to make other stores only sell DRMed music, then it must be true. I mean they've never been wrong, have they?

Again, I must be missing something because again I'm left with the impression that Apple likes their DRM served up with fava beans and a nice chianti.

But the part I really like is;

And Apple's toehold in the movie and TV business is rapidly becoming a beachhead. The only way to bypass Apple and still reach the massive iPod demographic is to throw open the digital gates and begin offering content in open MP3 and MPEG-4 formats that can still be played on Apple's devices--but losing control this way is just as scary to content owners as losing control to Apple. Ahh, so Apple is forcing people to use DRM because they would actually have to not use DRM to not use DRM. Yeah, that makes sense.

And if there's anything we know, it's that the content owners and Apple really like to be in control. Having actually RTFA I think it's quite fair to summarize it as "Apple is DRM's Biggest Backer".

Yeah, the RIAA is absolutely opposed to DRM, it's all Apple's fault. You certainly convinced yourself.

Jesus Christ, if Apple suddenly dissappeared, do you actually believe so would DRM?